Morning Briefing: Even with Yanks

Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterSep 10, 2014, 05:21 AM ET
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Jacob deGrom added to his resume with eight scoreless innings, but David Wright (rotator cuff) is done for the season.NEW YORK

FIRST PITCH: The Mets are even with the Yankees in one respect: Both teams are now 5½ games out in their respective wild-card races.

Still, that seemingly speaks more to the Bombers being out of postseason contention than the Amazin’s being in it.

With 17 games remaining, the Mets have a 70-75 record.

The San Francisco Giants seemingly are firmly entrenched in the No. 1 wild-card spot at 79-65.

Pittsburgh currently occupies the second wild-card spot at 75-69. Atlanta (74-71), freefalling Milwaukee (74-71) and Miami (71-72) also are ahead of the Mets.

The Pirates and Brewers play three more times, meaning that’s at least two additional wins for one of those teams. And Pittsburgh and Atlanta play four times, meaning that’s a minimum of two wins for one of those teams.

So .500 seems like a more realistic goal for the Mets. If the Mets fall short of breakeven, they would finish with their sixth straight losing season, which would be tied with the Houston Astros for the longest active streak in the majors.

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Rafael Montero gets a spot start Wednesday against the Rockies.

Meanwhile, the Mets -- winners of six of their last seven games -- on Wednesday try to complete a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies for the second straight season at Citi Field.

Rafael Montero, who joined the Mets from Triple-A Las Vegas on Sunday, gets a spot start that allows the other members of the rotation to receive an extra day of rest. Montero (0-3, 5.23 ERA) opposes left-hander Tyler Matzek (5-9, 4.32), a fellow rookie.

Montero last pitched last Wednesday in Vegas’ Pacific Coast League playoff opener at Reno. He allowed three runs on seven hits and four walks in a 103-pitch effort spanning 4 1/3 innings.

Matzek is coming off a three-hit shutout against the San Diego Padres. He became the first Rockies pitcher to go the distance in a scoreless effort at Coors Field since Jhoulys Chacin on April 15, 2011 against the Chicago Cubs. Overall, Matzek has an active 21-inning scoreless streak.

Wednesday’s news reports:

• David Wright has been shut down for the remainder of the season after undergoing an MRI and examination of his troublesome left shoulder at the Hospital for Special Surgery on Tuesday. The captain is not expected to require surgery to address what was labeled “persistent inflammation” in the rotator cuff.

Wright finishes the season with a .269 average, career-low eight homers and 63 RBIs in 535 at-bats. He went homerless in his final 189 at-bats, which is the longest drought of his career.

Wright had experienced discomfort since jamming the shoulder while sliding headfirst on a steal on June 12 on a muddy surface at Citi Field. He missed a week late in the first half and then received a cortisone shot heading into the All-Star break.

“David did what captains do -- he persevered, he kept going, he gutted it out,” Sandy Alderson said. “Numbers or no numbers, he did what we expected. He made a major contribution to the team by continuing to perform. And when a player is injured, all you can expect from him is honesty about the injury and willingness to go out there and make the effort. There’s no question David did that throughout the last two and half months.”

Alderson and Terry Collins said they would huddle to determine the best infield alignment in Wright’s absence. Dilson Herrera figured to see vastly diminished playing time with Daniel Murphy having returned from a calf injury on Tuesday. Now, though, one option is to use Murphy at third base and Herrera at second. Otherwise, the likely option is to use Eric Campbell at third base -- although Josh Satin and Wilmer Flores also are capable of manning the position, too.

Murphy last played third base, his natural position, in 2011 when Wright missed time with a stress fracture in his lower back.

Read more on Wright in the Post, Daily News, Newsday, Times, Journal, Star-Ledger, Record and at MLB.com.

• Jacob deGrom retired the final 14 batters he faced and was sitting at 100 pitches through eight scoreless innings when Collins pulled him three outs away from a complete game. Collins, under pressure from his bosses to keep his young hurlers’ pitch counts in check late in the season, went to Jenrry Mejia for the ninth. Mejia eventually was pulled with the bases loaded and one out. Josh Edgin and Jeurys Familia combined to bail the Mets out and preserve a 2-0 win against the Rockies on Tuesday.

Edgin had been dealing with elbow discomfort from bone spurs and had received a cortisone injection last Tuesday. He was making his first appearance since Aug. 23.

DeGrom improved to 8-6 and sliced his ERA to 2.62. He becomes the third pitcher in franchise history to have a sub-3.00 ERA through 20 starts in his debut season, joining Dwight Gooden (1984, 2.80) and Tom Seaver (1967, 2.92), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. DeGrom has not allowed an earned run in his past 22 innings.

Read game recaps in the Post, Newsday, Star-Ledger, Record and at MLB.com.

• Alderson acknowledged the Mets are considering further revising the dimensions in right-center/right field at Citi Field. According to ESPN Stats & Information’s Mark Simon, who made a crude calculation using Inside Edge data that plots of fly balls:

The Mets have hit 16 balls to right-center this season that traveled more than 395 feet -- and seven have fallen short of being home runs. Opponents have hit 15 balls to right-center that traveled more than 395 feet -- and four have been short of being home runs.

So the Mets, very roughly, could have a pickup of seven long balls for a season potentially with such a wall adjustment.

The Mets’ analysis, according to Alderson, is that Curtis Granderson could have seven more homers with particular wall tweaking.

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